Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1887-06-08
National Enca ampnent.
DN. TALMAGE AT WASHINGTON.
ELOQUENT SERMON SUNDAY, MAY
29TH, TO THE MILITARY.
"FIFTY THOUSAND WHICH COULD KEEP
RANK'-"EvERY ONE COULD SLING
STONES AT A HAIR-BREADTH
AND NOT MISS"


RANK'-"EvERY ONE COULD SLING
STONES AT A HAIR-BREADTH
AND NOT MISS"
SOMETHING ABOUT THE FIGHTERS
OF OLD.
"sT. JOHN SAYS THE ARMIES OF HEAVEN
RIDE ON WHITE HORSES, AND DON'T
KNOW BUT MANY OF THE OLD CAV
AIRY HORSES OF EARTHLY BATTLES
THAT WERE WOUNDED AND
WORN OUT IN SERVICE MAY
HAVE RESURRECTION"
WASHINGTON, May 29.-Soldiers of the
National Drill listened this afternoon to a
sermon by the Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage,
D., D. Soldiers from thirty-one States and
Territories were present, and nineteen
Governors and their staffs. Washington is
full of strangers attendant upon the Nation
al Drill, having for its object improvement
in military science, which began May %
and will close tomorrow. The music be-
fore and after the sermon this afternoon
was conducted by military bands. DR..
Talmage's texts were taken from Chron-
icles, xii, 33: 'tFifty thousand which could
keep rank" and Judges, Xxx, Is: Every
one could sling stones at hair breadth
and not miss" The preacher said:
Companies of infantry, cavalry, artillery,
and zouaves please notice, the first Scrip
ture passage applauds the soldiers of Zebu-
Ion because they we're disciplined troops
They may have been inefficient at the start
and laughed at by old soldiers because they
seemed so clumsy in the line, but it was
drill, drill, drill until they could keep step
as one man. ''Fifty thousand which couid
keep rank" The second Scripture pass
age applauds a regiment Of singers in the
tribe Of Benjamin because they are dexter
Gus marksmen. When they first enlisted
they may have been an awkward squad
and all their fingers we're thumbs, but they
practiced until when they aimed at a mark
they always hit it. Everyone could sling
stones at hair-breadth and not miss F"
Both texts combining. to show us that If we
must fight we should do it well.
There is something absorbing in the mill
tary science of the Bible. In olden times
all the men between twenty and fifty years
of age were enrolled in the army and then
levy was mads for special service. There
those who had built house and had not
occupied it; those who had planted a gar
den and had not reaped the fruit of it,:
those who were engaged to be married and
yet had not led the bride to the altar; those
who were yet in the first year of welded
life; those who were SO nervous that they
could not look upon an enemy but they
fled, and could not look upon blood but they
tainted.
The army was in three divisiens-the
centre and right and left wings. The
weapons of defence were helmet, shield,
breastplate, buckler. The weapons of of
fence were sword, spear, javelin, arrow,
catapult-which was merely bow swung
by machinery, shooting arrows at vast dis
tances, great arrows, one arrow as large as
several men could lift-and ballista, which
was sling swung by machinery. hurting
great rocks and large pieces of lead to vast
distances. The shields were made of wov-
en- willow-work with three thickncsses of
hide and a loop inside, through which the
arm of the warrior might be thrust; and
when these soldiers were marching to attack
an enemy on the level, all these shields
touched each other, making a wall moving
but impenetrable; aud then when they at
tackled a fortress and tried to capture a
battlement this shield was lifted over the
head so as to resist the falling missiles
The breastplate was made of two pieces of
leather, brass covered, one piece falling
over the breast, the other falling over the
back. At the side of the warrior the two
pieces fastened with buttons or clasps.
The bows were SO stout and stiff and
strong that warriors often challenged each
other to bend one. The strings of the bow
were made from the sinews of oxen. A
case like an inverted pyramid was fastened
to the back, that case containing the ar
rows, SO that when the warrior wanted to
use an arrow he would put his arm over his
shoulder and pull forth the arrow for the
fight. The ankle of the foot had an iron
boot. When a wall was to be assaulted a
battering ram was brought up. A batter
ing ram was great beam swung on chains
in equilibrium. The battering ram would
be brought close up to the wall and then a
great number Of mcn would take hold of
this beam, push it back as far as they could
and then let go, and the beam became a
great swinging pendulum of destruction.
Twenty OR forty men would stand in a
movable tower on the back of an elephant,
the elephant made drunk with wine, and
! then headed toward the enemy, and what
with the heavy feet and the swinging pro-
boscis and the poisoned arrows shot from
| the movable tower, the destruction was
appalling. War chariots were in vogue
and they were on two wheels so they could
| easily turn. A sword was fastened to the
pole between the horses so when they went
ahead the sword thrust, and when they
| turned around it would NOW down. The
armies carried flags beautifully embroider-
| I'D ho Of Trd dol ;oJ 40 hrD;I DO,
ed with lion; tribe of Reuben, embroider
ed with man; tribe of Dan, embroidered
with cherubim. The noise of the host as
they moved on was overwhelming. What
with the clatter of shields and the rumbling
of wheels and the shouts of the captains
and the vociferation of the entire host, the
prophet says it was like the roaring of the
sea. Because the arts of war have been ad
vancing all these years you are not to con
clu0e that these armies of olden times were
an uncomfortable mob. I could quote you
four or five passages of Scripture showing
you that they were thoroughly drilled; they
marched step to step, shoulder to shoulder
or, as my texts express it, they were "Fifty
thousand which could keep rank" ane
"Every one could sling stones at hair
breadth and not MISS"
Nothing could be more important thar
this great national encampment. Undrill
ed troops can never stand before those
which are drilled At time when Other
nations are giving such care to military
tactics, it behooves this nation to lack no
thing in skill. We shall never have an
other war between North and South. The
old decayed bone of contention, American
slavery, has been cast out, although hert
and there depraved politician takes it W
to see if be can gnaw som ething off Of it,
We are floating off further and further
from the possibility of sectional strife, bu
about foreign invasion 1 am not SO sure
There is absolutely no room on this conti-
nent for any other nation. have beer
across the country again and again and
know that we have not a half inch ol
ground for the gouty foot of foreign despot
ism to stand on. do not know but that 6
half dozen nations envious of our prosperi-
ty may want to give us wrestle. During
our civil war there were two or three ma
tions that could hardly keep their hands of
of us. 1t is very easy to pick national
quarrels, and if our nation escapes it mucf
longer IL will he the exec eptiOn If a foreign